Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Renault Sport F1 Spanish Grand Prix Preview

(Renault Sport F1)

Renault Sport F1 head into this weekend’s opening race of
the European season, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Barcelona Circuit De
Catalunya following an extremely difficult race for the French manufacturer
last time out as Daniel Ricciardo suffered his third power unit failure of the
season out of the four for the year that are available.

As a result it is likely that the Infiniti Red Bull Racing
driver will at some point during the season be forced to take a ten place power
unit grid penalty.

Despite his power unit failure right at the end of the race
which meant he couldn’t cross the line, Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel
Ricciardo finished the race in sixth place while his team mate Daniil Kvyat
ended the event in 9th respectively.

It was a disappointing race for the Scuderia Toro Rosso due
as both Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz retired from the race. Speaking ahead
of the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend, Renault Sport F1’s Director of
Operations Remi Taffin stated:

‘Barcelona is much more of
a traditional circuit than the first four tracks we have visited so far this
year. The layout flows a lot more, with high and medium speed corners rather
than tight, slow hairpins and long straights. It also has changes of altitude
as the track follows the contours of the hills. As such, the circuit represents
medium difficulty for the Power Units, which subsequently have to deliver good
all-round performance across all the parts.

The three
week gap has given us an opportunity to look at all the information from the
start of the season. We have been flat out to counter the issues encountered
early on and we will have a modified spec of engine for this race that should
give improved reliability and driveability. We are looking forward to Spain to
see our hard work in action.’